This invention relates to information digitization technology, general signal emitting and receiving method, data processing technology, and display techniques.
Safety and efficiency in transportation are always public concerns, and as a result hundreds of patents are issued annually. This research tries to improve safety and efficiency in transportation in many ways, one of which is using location and navigation systems. The most current research works using navigation systems based on communication with a satellite. This is called GPS (Global Position System). But, GPS is too expensive to be used in the economy vehicle in the near future and its capability is limited.
Some inventions determine vehicle""s location by recording and calculating the distance and direction taken by the vehicle and then comparing them with map information. But this is not accurate and reliable compared with the present inventions which solve the problem by setting signal emitters/carriers on the ground or on a fixed object by placing a Receiver in the vehicle to receive the information and determine the exact location.
Usually, a map is needed when one drives to a new place even if he finds a step-by-step route on the Internet because often directions are unclear and hard to follow. This could lead to a possible dangerous situation, not to mention a waste of time. A GPS navigation system can be helpful in locating the vehicle, but it can not be popularized because of its high cost and technological limitations. The Local Position System presented in this paper can not only find out the location and give accurate directions, but it can also easily be applied to all the vehicles within a reasonable cost. When a Receiver carried by the vehicle gets the location signal, it can transmit the signal to other people with corresponding equipment, letting them know the location of the vehicle.
Using this system, a driver can concentrate more on driving than directions therefore the number of accidents should be reduced. Furthermore, the driver wastes less time with easy and constant access to the system. And getting road information from local information source is much cheaper than getting it from satellite. Even though setting up the system originally will take a considerable amount of time, effort, and finances, it only has to be done once.
This invention is especially useful to special vehicle drivers such as police officers, firemen, ambulance or taxi drivers, etc. It can not only help them reach their desired destinations quickly, but can also transmit messages to their headquarters telling of their exact location. In another instance, if a blind person brings a Receiver, he can find the desired destination just following the voice instruction provided by the Receiver. And in the future, this system can be used for automatic drive vehicles.
A system for automatically locating and directing a vehicle first needs a Receiver which is a microcomputer subsystem connected with a scanner or receiver and/or a transmitter mounted on the vehicle.
The next step is building an information digitization method in which a specific geographic locations in the world are represented by a specified codes. The Address Code which is unique to a specific location point in the world can be picked up on the surface of the cross and accesses of all the roads in each direction in all over the nation through digitally-coded strips or signals emitted from fixed local information source with digitally-coded data. Then the address codes are combined with the current maps in the computer to make a digitized map that can be stored in a compact disk (CD).
Before a vehicle starts the driver inputs his destination, and highlight-route to the destination and a bright spot representing current location of the vehicle and a bight arrow are shown on the screen, these make up the vehicle Receiver. The information displayed tells the driver where he is, and how to get to his desired destination by means of digitized map, words, and voices. The map on the screen can be zoomed in and out so that the driver can know the outline and details of traffic information around him.
When the vehicles move along a road, pass an intersection or turn into another road, the vehicle Receiver can receive the address code by scanning the strips on the surface of the road or receiving the signals of digitally coded data from the emitter mounted near the road. Then the obtained information on the location of the vehicle by the scanner or the receiver will be sent to a microcomputer located the in vehicle Receiver. The microcomputer can automatically display the pertinent area""s map on the screen. The current location of the vehicle and the route to destination will be shown as a bright spot and bright arrows. This information can be given to drivers through words or voices, such as xe2x80x9ckeep straightxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cturn leftxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cturn rightxe2x80x9d and so on. The bright spot representing the vehicle""s location moves along the route displayed in the digitized map on the screen while the vehicle moves on the road because the Receiver will catch the address code one by one on the road and find corresponding information.
When the Receiver gets an address code, the transmitter that is installed inside of Receiver can transmit the newly received signal of the Address Code into the air. This way other people can track the location of the moving vehicle. The transmitter can be set in a cellular phone or radio as well.